BILT Speaker

Sunday, 30 October 2016

The new 'Import 3D Shape' feature in Revit 2017.1 seems like an improvement - but it is not necessarily all good. In previous versions we could link or import 3D SAT into Revit. In v2017.1 the import engine for SAT files has changed (it is not just a UI change); in addition, we can also import Rhino files (but not link them).
The underlying import engine for this new feature is different to the previous one used for importing SAT files. I have heard anecdotal evidence that SAT files imported in v2017.1 perform better than in v2017; and that it may import more (of the) models, or sometimes not at all - at this stage it is too early to tell, so I will concentrate on the changes in functionality.

Sat vs Rhino

What is SAT? It is not a satellite. It stands for 'Standard ACIS Text' file format.
ACIS is a 3D geometric modelling kernel used by various different softwares (currently owned by Dassault) - but since it is open-source, its data file structure has become a commonly used industry 3D model translation format. Revit can only import/link SAT v7 or earlier (as of 2017.1).
A rhino file is the native file format (3dm) of the 'Rhinoceros' 3D modeling program (by McNeel & Associates). Until Revit 2017.1 it was not possible to import rhino files directly - you had to use a whole menagerie of software such as Dynamo, Rhynamo, Chameleon, Hummingbird and who knows what other creatures.

The Old SAT Import Method

Before evaluating the relative merits of the old vs new methods of
importing SAT files, it is important to understand how people might use
the old method - particularly in terms of managing materials and
subcategories.

During the import CAD process, once you chose the SAT format, the dialog box options were the same as other CAD formats (DWG, DXF etc) - allowing you to choose units, origin points.

Old import SAT options

Once the SAT file was imported, it had base constraints - a level that you could change.

Old SAT import Instance Properties in project

In the family editor, you had all the visibility controls and even a direct subcategory property, which the imported model can be assigned to.

Old SAT import Instance Properties in family

It also had type properties that allowed you to change the scale if the import scale was not quite right

Old SAT import Type Properties

Imported SAT shaded view

Subcategories

In the project, like any other imported/linked CAD file, the imported SAT file had a default subcategory of "0", which could be accessed from the 'Imported Objects' tab of the 'Object Styles' dialog box - from there the line weights and patterns could be changed

The subcategory could be renamed - so that multiple imported SAT files could each have a different subcategory.

Materials

The object style material could also be changed, so that the imported SAT looked different in all views

Imported SAT with material over-ride in Object Styles

All these settings behaved pretty much the same regardless of whether you linked or imported a SAT file. The relative merits of link vs import are for another discussion. Linked/imported SAT files would not section correctly when placed directly in the model (just gave a projection view) because imports were not considered to be of a 'Cuttable' category - to get around this we always used to create an in-place generic family and link/import to that, so that it would cut sections properly.

New SAT Import Method

During the new 'Import SAT' procedure, we have lost all those options for controlling units, origin points, correcting off-axis lines etc. All that is replaced with just one 'Category' drop-down menu.

What this means is that we can no longer control units/scale or location. You have to know the units in advance, and make sure that they match the units of your current file exactly. However, you may occasionally get a dialog prompting you for import units if the units are not defined in the SAT file

Once the file is imported, the instance properties have lost the base level & offset, which is extremely unfortunate; we have gained Image, Comments, Mark and Phasing - all of which may come in useful, particularly when tagging.

The type properties have lost the scale settings, but gained a whole swathe of standard system properties, again useful for scheduling and tagging:

In the family editor, we now have the same properties as in the project, although I can't see the benefit of having them here, as they will change in the project with every instance.

If you choose a 'cuttable' category such as casework or generic, then you can cut section correctly through directly imported SAT/Rhino files without having to first host them in an in-place family. Once imported, you cannot change its category in the project environment; in the family editor you can change the category.

Swings and Roundabouts

What have we gained with the new method:

Can import a rhino file directly (if it works)

Apply a category directly to import

Can over-ride surface pattern by element per view

Can schedule imported elements

Can tag imported elements

Can dimension imported elements - where edges are parallel or have arcs

Use imported elements for bounding rooms, providing they are put in a suitable category (such as walls, floors, ceilings) - the imported element has a 'room-bounding' checkbox, but I could not get it to work!

No 'Current View Only' checkbox, if for some reason you wanted to flatten your SAT file to 2D

No subcategory

No material per subcategory (can only edit materials if applied as colours in Rhino first) [edit]

In the family editor - no visibilty controls (Visible checkbox and Detail Level)

We now have two very different workflows for linking and importing CAD files. Presumably this is a work in progress, and the old method of linking will become just like the new importing process. Hopefully we will have the old capabilities reinstated to the new method in some fashion, and applied to Rhino files too.

Many people will have devised their own workflows when importing SAT files. If those workflows rely on any of the capabilities that have been lost, you might be cursing version 2017.1 after the upgrade. Here are some workarounds for dealing with the problem (with SAT files, not Rhino):

Import SAT Workarounds

1. You could just use Link CAD instead of Import - this uses the old method, and has many advantages over importing.

2. You could link the SAT file into a DWG file, and assign layers to it before importing - I have not tested this as it requires the use of another piece of software that I don't ever use.

3. If you must have the SAT file imported, you could link the SAT file; then assign it to a subcategory (as described above) and a material; then 'bind' it. How do you bind a linked SAT file, you might ask? Unlike linked Revit files, there is no "Bind" command on the ribbon when you select a linked CAD/SAT file.

The command is hidden away on the Manage Links dialog box, and it is not called 'Bind' - it is called Import. I guess that is because you are converting a linked file into an imported CAD file. Oh, why do we have these obscure inconsistencies in Revit?

Once you select a linked CAD file (be it DWG, SAT), the 'Import' button becomes available

Once you click on that button and then OK (or Apply), the linked file disappears from the Manage Links list and becomes just like a SAT file imported by the old method.

This workaround is obviously not available in the family editor, as you cannot link CAD files of any type in that environment.

Monday, 17 October 2016

Autodesk recently released Revit 2017.1 - an interim release giving us new features as well as bug fixes. In the last two years we had similar interim releases: 2015 R2 & 2016 R2; and now we get another change naming . Like those two releases, what we do not get is a file format change - for which we are very thankful. It also looks like we have one and only one upgrade file for all flavours of Revit - either just plain Revit or Building design suite - that is a big improvement on previous versions where it became very confusing as to which flavour to download and apply.

Those previous R2 releases were a big deal - they were chock full of small/medium enhancements that made it really worthwhile to upgrade as soon as possible. In fact they gave a big push to those who had not yet upgraded to the major annual release, and made it worth going through the pain of a file format change.
This year I am not so excited by the interim release enhancement list. There will be some things that are a big deal to some people but most of the enhancements don't happen to interest me much. Here are a few comments on some of them - full list over at Inside the Factory:

New in Revit 2017.1

Dynamo Player

'Dynamo Player' has an icon on the ribbon that allows users to run scripts without opening Dynamo or knowing where the scripts are saved (providing you set it up correctly for them). This promises to be extremely useful for all those Dynamo scripts that you have created and have floating around. Now you should be able to get non-Dynamo users to make use of them very easily - providing your Dynamo scripts are robust of course. This is the first iteration - it does not handle all situations yet: scripts that require user input may work, depending on how they have been set up - refer to discussion over at DynamoBIM

Updated Dynamo

It is not clear whether that is just part of the ongoing process of improving Dynamo? Would you still get the same functionality by just installing the latest version of Dynamo - or have there been some underlying changes to Revit that enable more functionality?

Import 3D shapes (Rhino/SAT files)

You can now import Rhino and SAT files directly, and assign a category to them, using the 'Import CAD' command. You could previously import SAT files (not Rhino), but not assign them to a category. This is available in the project environment or family editor, although many people would not recommend importing any CAD files directly to a project (better to keep them within a loaded family).

This option is not available with 'Link CAD', although you can link SAT files as previously.
Assigning a category gives you better control than we had previously when importing SAT or DWG files (it does not apply to DWG now).
Choosing a category allows you to:

subsequently schedule imported files by category

Cut section properly (for cuttable categories) - previously you had to link the 3D CAD files within a family to make this work.

If you import into a family, you can change the category later on - this is probably better practise anyway.

The first Rhino file that I tried to import using this method failed, where the equivalent SAT file worked well.

Element Override has been improved so that an imported Rhino or SAT file can now have its surface pattern overridden (this was not previously possible for SAT files). Surface pattern overrides does not work on imported 3D DWGs.

You can now dimension imported Rhino & SAT files directly - providing they have parallel edges or arcs.

High-Resolution monitor support

If you use 4K monitors then this will be popular - otherwise it is of little interest to the average user? Something for the future for most people, I guess.

Repair Central Model Tool

New tool to fix the corruption in a central model and create a new central model - this sounds very useful for those rare occasions when a model gets corrupted. You might be able to fix it right away instead of sending it to Autodesk.

Model in perspective views

Add, move, copy, rotate, or align elements in a live 3D perspective view - many people will disagree with me but I think this is a complete waste of development time and energy. The nature of Revit perspective views is such that they are so hard to navigate in that they are effectively static plotting views. Until you can move around in perspective like you can in other 3D environments, I can't see why you'd want to actually work in perspective.

Stairs & Railings

Here are two very minor little stair and railing enhancements - neither will revolutionise the way you use the tools but just make your life a little easier.

Railings: Top Rail & Handrail Type Properties more accessible

The Top and Handrail properties can now be accessed directly from within the Railing Type Properties dialog - by clicking on the hidden link button to the right hand side of the property.

Previously there was a drop-down menu that appeared when you clicked in the 'Top Rail Type' property, which allowed you to choose a predefined Top Rail. Now there is a link button - not to be confused with the Global Parameter associate buttons that could potentially be in the column to the right (but they are not activated here so the column is blank).

Click on the button and it takes you to another dialog box: the Top Rail Type properties.

This allows you to either just select a type from the drop-down menu at the top, or else duplicate to create a new type and modify it.

This may confuse users who are not familiar with this UI technique of linking from one type property to another (it does happen elsewhere in Revit, but not in every situation, sadly). It would have helped to avoid confusion if they had automatically offset the dialog box so that you could see the other one is still behind - you can do this manually yourself.

Once you have chosen/changed the Top Rail type properties, click OK and it returns you to the Railing type property dialog.

All this means that you no longer have to go searching in the project browser to chnage or create new Top Rails and Handrail types. A welcome change, but I would like to see some more significant tidying up of the Rail/Top Rail/Handrail train crash - so that we don't have multiple ways to create these things, and that the workflow is clear and predictable. Currently the old Rail definition works quite differently from the new Top Rail definition, and the end results are not consistent. Neither of them is capable of turning a tight corner at a landing!!

Stairs Parameters Tooltips

"New detailed tooltips include illustrations and helpful hints for stair elements settings and controls" - this is of minimal usefulness in my opinion. It only works if you have Tooltip Assistance options set to 'High', which most people would disable due to irritating videos that fly out over the ribbon and get stuck there. So, most people will never even see this new feature.

These new tooltips only explain a little about individual properties, not how the whole matrix of properties relate to each other - that is where most people struggle.

I would much rather that the Factory spent time fixing things that affect us daily - like the bug that prevents us copying and pasting stair arrows.

Structural & MEP

Conclusion

As always, any enhancements are welcome, but you will need to decide if the ones here are compelling enough for you to make the upgrade. If you are already running v2017, then it is a minimal disruption upgrade, and you might as well go ahead. If you are still on v2016, holding out for all the goodies in v2017 R2 (.1), then it would only be worth the disruption if you see something here that will dramatically affect your workflow.